From God's Spirit, the Spirit
of Right, came this inborn feeling of justice, this knowledge of
right and wrong, to us--part of the image of God in which He created
man--part of the breath or spirit of life which He breathed into
Adam. Do not mistake me. I do not say that the sense, and honesty,
and love in us, ARE God's Spirit--they are the spirit of MAN, but
that they are LIKE God's Spirit, and therefore they must be given us
BY God's Spirit to be used as God's Spirit Himself uses them. How a
man shall have his share of God's Spirit, and live in and by God's
Spirit, is another question, and a higher and more blessed one; but
we must master this question first--we must believe that our spirits
come FROM God, then, perhaps, we shall begin to see that our spirits
never can work well unless they are joined to the Spirit of God,
from whom they came. From whom else, I ask again, can they come?
Can they come from our bodies? Our bodies? What are they?--Flesh
and bones, made up of air and water and earth,--out of the dead
bodies of the animals, the dead roots and fruits of plants which we
eat. They are earth--matter. Can MATTER be courageous? Did you
ever hear of a good-natured plant, or an honest stone? Then this
good-nature, and honesty, and courage of ours, must belong to our
souls--our spirits.
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